FARMINGTON – Patrons of Peoples Heritage Bank in Farmington will be spared a fish in the face, at least for a little while.
Patty Flagg, a teller at the bank, took her company’s playful fish philosophy to heart. In an effort to have “fun at work,” she routinely tosses a stuffed toy fish at patrons, similar to what fishmongers do at Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle.
According to the Seattle company’s Web site, fish market employees there throw the catches among themselves, bantering and having fun as they do their jobs of sorting and packing fish.
In Farmington, that same corporate philosophy of having fun at work doesn’t always fly with customers.
After being hit numerous times with the toy, Marty Pike had enough.
“She’s been hitting me with that thing for a year now,” he said.
Flagg’s yellow fish dangled from a fishing line Thursday morning outside a second-story window of Pike’s K&J Apparel and Footwear, at Main Street and Broadway.
All Banknorth employees, the parent company of Peoples Heritage, are trained in the fish philosophy, according to Katie Wyman, senior vice president at the bank. Based on the antics of the fishmongers of Seattle, the program teaches people to enjoy their time at work.
“You choose your attitude every day,” she said. You can have fun at work and still be professional, she said.
Flagg is the only Farmington teller who regularly tosses her company-supplied fish at bank customers, however.
Not all patrons warm to it, apparently.
One customer took the fish, saying he was giving it to his granddaughter. Flagg had to write to trainers to get a replacement.
Justyn Judkins of Liquid Sky, a shop opposite the bank, also “stole” Flagg’s fish a few months ago.
“She learned her lesson,” Judkins said. “She doesn’t throw it at me anymore.”
Pike said he isn’t sure when he’ll give the fish back.
“The punishment should fit the crime,” he said. “It may be tomorrow, it may be a year from now.”
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